Ashley English certainly is a busy woman. She’s a gardening/backyard chickens/honeybee enthusiast like me… she’s also an amazingly prolific writer with five (!) books under her belt. Her latest book, A Year of Pies: A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies, landed in my mailbox last month and is well on it’s way to becoming as well loved a resource as her others.

This beautifully photographed cookbook begins with a user-friendly section that will answer any question you’ve possibly got about pie; Ashley also provides six master recipes for pie crust. The rest of the book is arranged by season, and features sweet and savory recipes for many of the pies one would “expect” (like Coconut Cream), but with Ashley’s unique take on each one: candied pumpkin seeds stud the top of her gingersnap crusted version of Pumpkin Pie and limoncello makes its way into her Lemon Meringue Pie. It’s also got recipes for many pies (as well as tarts and other pie-like creations) that are not so familiar (at least not to me): like the Blackberry Sonker and the Honey Pie.

Not being a huge fan of classic blueberry pie but wanting to do justice to some tasty local blueberries I had on hand, I decided to try Ashley’s Blueberry Refrigerator Pie a few weeks ago. I did not have any graham crackers so I used “Mi-Del” vanilla snaps in the crust instead and it worked out just fine; also, I substituted mascarpone cheese for the cream cheese.

This pie was really easy to prepare, and I served it for dessert to some friends who stopped by for an impromptu potluck while my kids were away at camp. We all went absolutely “gaga” for each dreamy bite.

My pie ended up being a bit soft: I think this is probably because I did not chill it long enough (or maybe it was because of the mascarpone). The taste and texture were lovely, though…I’d make it again in a second were it not for all the other pies from the book I want to try.

Directions:

2. Crush the graham crackers either by pulsing them in a food processor or placing them in a plastic freezer bag and rolling over them with a rolling pin.

3. Combine the crushed graham crackers, melted butter, sugar, and salt in a medium-size bowl and stir until fully mixed. Press the mixture into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate, covering the bottom evenly and pressing the crumbs halfway up the sides (my pie plate was semi-deep-dish, so I pushed my crumbs up the sides a little higher…almost to the top).

4. Bake the crust 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool completely before filling.

For the Pie:

1. Melt butter in a medium sized saucepan. Add blueberries and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, until berries begin to release their juices.

2. Mix together sugar and starch in a small bowl. Stir in the blueberry mixture, then add the lemon juice and zest and cook 5 minutes longer, until the mixture thickens.

3. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream cheese (or mascarpone) and ricotta.

4. Transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender and puree for about one minute, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

5. To assemble the pie, pour the blueberry and cheese mixture into the prepared pie crust. Arrange reserved blueberries evenly over the surface of the pie, then refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. Serve chilled.

I’ve been on a bit of a mascarpone rampage lately, but I wonder how this would taste in popsicle form. There’s a popsicle cart at my farmers market that does goat cheese with blueberry swirl, but this sounds fantastic. Maybe crush wafers up and roll the popsicles in them like the Good Humor strawberry shortcake bars? (can you tell I don’t want summer to end?)

Mmm, blueberries and a lovely pie! When in Finland last month and beginning of this month,I picked at least 6 kilos of wild blueberries.And all I could take back with me (because of excess weight) was one jar of homemade blueberry jam…

Gluten free crusts are easy- I have a few here on the blog so let me know if you want me to point one out to you! As for the sugar…I bet you could get away with less if the berries were very sweet…or use honey or maple syrup, if those work for you :)

I’ve never heard of a refrigerator blueberry pie before and it’s definitely my loss. The pie looks so good and, most importantly, it’s ridiculously easy to make. Thanks for the recipe and thanks for linking back to my no bake blueberry cake!

I’m assembling a cookbook on the Windows 8 app; this looks and sounds delicious. Instead of the cream cheese or mascarpone, I’m going to make it with yogurt cheese.

Welcome!

Hi there! I'm Winnie. I am a published author and I create and photograph seasonally inspired recipes here at Healthy Green Kitchen. I have a graduate degree in naturopathic medicine and I am currently studying sports nutrition. I am a competitive powerlifter and I live in NY's Hudson Valley with my husband, kids, cats, dogs, and chickens.